Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

AN INTERNATIONAL team of scientists has embarked on one of the most ambitious research projects yet attempted in evolutionary biology. They plan to map the genomes of 10,000 vertebrate animals including fish, birds, reptiles, amphibians and mammals, and in the process create a “genomic zoo”, writes DICK AHLSTROM

Ireland will be at the centre of this research, given the involvement of Dr Emma Teeling of University College Dublin. The study will provide “an unprecedented view of vertebrate evolution,” she says. “We are going to understand how vertebrate life evolved. We will learn how their genomes changed in response to environmental challenges.”